Class and Politics in the Periphery and the Transition to Socialism

Focusing on class relationships and the state, this article outlines a perspective for the transition to socialism in the periphery. Inequalities on a world scale and the penetration and interlock of class structures leave little room for peaceful transition. The class-anchored state is identified as playing a pivotal role in the consolidation of the revolution. The need to proceed beyond nationalization to 'demodernize' and 'uproot' rather than merely socialize production is a result of imperial capital's distorted ecological, demographic and productive structures. Alternative 'state capitalist', 'peasant-based revolu tionary' theories of transition are criticized in the course of a revised conception of the role of workers in twentieth century revolution in the Third World.